dollars and sense, part 2

see questions below: 

1. no

2. yes

3. no. 

dollars and sense

with news of the latest and greatest federal bailout, I have some questions: 

1. Can people really support a system that privatizes profit, but socializes risk? 

2. Aren't the people (like Enron's "smartest guys in the room") at fault here going to be the people allocating the bailout?   And probably reaping the benefits?

3. This is a crisis of confidence. Is giving a blank check to the Sec.Treas. without strings, regulations, oversight going to do anything but further seed mistrust in government once news gets out that we're funding CEO golden parachutes, etc?  

I think this is endemic of the Republican leadership:  wreck havoc then claim we're too busted to do anything about medicare, social security, the debt, anything.  

for people that disrespect soccer:

have you seen a Nationals or Devil Rays game?  Noone has. 

mortgage backed security

News today that the bailout to clear the bad debt of the country's books is going to be 700 billion dollars, or as much as we're have spend in Iraq and Afganistan.

Of course the debt isn't going away, the taxpayers are buying it, using money we've borrowed from the Chinese.

tremors, one of my favorite movies

seriously.

Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon are genius together, like Bogart and Bacall. And having lived for 3 years in Arizona, I have a soft spot for the desert and its inhabitants. So many of the details are perfect, from the mishmash of idealistic losers, to the rough economics of scraping out a living. It is exactly like what you'll find driving across Arizona.

I don't really think it is a western--the structure and story is straight sci-fi, all Alien, no Rio Bravo.

design your dwelling 2008

good news--I got a runner up spot in the competition.  Fame, fortune, and a free year's subscription to Dwell are mine!

Getting second out of 130 entries sucks just a little less then getting nothing. According to the editor, there won't be any ink for the winners in the magazine.  

Fuzzy kittens, blinded by rage, eat all the cucumber sandwiches.

design your dwelling

Dwell Magazine had a little competition to design a house for a site in San Francisco, at Crissy Field in view of the Golden Gate Bridge.  In response to the very public site, and the conceit of putting a private house there, I chose to elevate the residence and downsize it to about 900 sf. and use the rest of the site as public sculpture park and a community hall/gallery/exhibition space.  The structure features a glass security screen with a photovoltaic layer cut from an abstract foliage design from one of my prints  (tree boom, see below), keeping the house off the grid.  When in use, the community hall opens up to the northwest toward the bridge.  Stormwater is stored and used to feed a rooftop edible garden.  

It was a fun little exercise and gave me a chance to experiment with some other Sketchup functionalities that I don't normally use, and do some extra credit research on PV systems. I'm pretty sure I didn't win, especially since I took their program and dumped it on its head.  

 

big weekend

After more than 2 and 1/2 years of mostly pro bono work, the new plaza for the Alki Statue of Liberty was unveiled. Hundreds of people showed up for the event.    

I feel great relief and satisfaction--it is akin to an adrenaline rush--to see people in the plaza hanging out, enjoying the weather.  We've created a landmark, a community touchstone.  

This project has been a marathon test of endurance and will, and it shouldn't be like that.  Our public realm would be much richer if the barriers set by the powers that be were a little lower.  

on a roll

I have been trying to amass enough recent work to put together a portfolio and subsequently get an exhibition.  I have about 15-20 works now.  

The show could be called "Monetize your hobby." 

things I have tried to convince my wife of recently:

McCain picked a fantastic running mate.

In a twist, this is not a lie--this is absolutely true.  Palin is fantastic--she is the gift that keeps giving:  so far, let's see (in no particular order):

1. No foreign policy experience (despite GOP commentators trying to pin geographic proximity to Russia as proof of her chops).  

2. Reinforces McCain's pandering reform calls (was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it).  

3. Former member of Alaska Independence Party.  The only party platform plank--calling for secession from the United States.  This is not a youthful indiscretion:  she dropped her membership in '96 when she was 32 years old--some reports out there state that her husband Todd, "the First Dude," is still a member. 

4. Believes in creationism, but not global climate change. 

5. Her major act as governor was to increase the taxes on oil and gas companies, and pass the revenue onto taxpayers (sounds a lot like a Democratic initiative).  

6. Family values candidate, but had a bun in the oven when she was married, and has passed that and her stand on abstinence only education onto her kids.  

7. Troopergate:  embroiled in a scandal to fire her sister's husband to gain leverage in her custody battle.  Hired a private lawyer yesterday. 

8. But has 'military command experience,' given that she is the commander of the Alaskan National Guard.  

This is the list five days after her rollout.  Man, I can't wait to meet the First Dude who makes up the other half of this power couple, and the boy wonder/future son-in-law who got the Guv's underage daughter preggers.  

I swear, it is ridiculous what the conservatives will put up with: as long as she is evangelical and can shoot a gun, she is qualified to lead the free world.  If McCain wanted to pick an experienced woman as a running mate, he could have chosen Olympia Snow or Kay Bailey Hutchinson.  Wait, they are pro-choice.  Okay, Elizabeth Dole.  

Further, this is just a cynical ploy to firm up the evangelicals and maybe peel off a couple Hillary supporters (but who is going to fall for that), but has to stand out in the annals of campaigns as the biggest huge bone headed move, notwithstanding Tom Eagleton in '72. 

If I were a woman, I'd be incensed that McCain is treating the VP slot as window dressing.  

At least, it takes the focus off Obama's speech in front of 84,000 people.  Mission accomplished. 

So yes, she is fantastic.  

another print

tree/boom

mt rainier

the serated ridges that slicer up the glaciers on the slopes of Mt. Rainier

hoopdie safari

We like to camp, moreso we like to car camp. So imagine our joy at being able to take our new Outback into the woods for Labor Day Weekend--no more hoopdie safaris in the Corolla!  

We found a little spot off the American River in the Wenatchee National Forest, put up stakes and honestly, did everything one might expect on a camping trip:  sitting around a fire, grilling, a big day hike, some whittling.  Really--I whittled a walking stick.  I thought perhaps that is a little cliche--I can come up with something better, but then again the media presented by the forest (sticks, limbs, etc) are very well suited for the tools at hand (pocketknife, hatchet) so the natural by product is usually something like that.  I'll try harder next time.  Mrs. 8's dad would carve little driftwood boats to float out in the nearest river for the kids.  Which is very charming and I am not going to try to top that.  Until we have kids.